The Emergence of Fascism in Italy

Post-War Italy

Italy joined WWI in 1915 under the terms of the Treaty of London, which guaranteed that Italy would receive several regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire along the Adriatic Coast. However, during the Paris Peace negotiations in 1919, the Allied leaders refused to allow Italy all of its promised territory. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye only gave Italy the territories of South Tyrol, Istria, and Trieste.

Italia Irredenta

• During WWI, over 650,000 Italian soldiers were killed, and almost 1 million were wounded. Most Italians believed that their sacrifice had been for nothing and felt cheated by the terms of the post-war peace treaties. Italian nationalists demanded that Italy be given all the territory it had been promised, referring to this as Italia Irredenta (unredeemed Italy).

  • In September 1919, a group of Italian ultra-nationalist ex-soldiers, led by the poet and irredentist Gabriele D'Annunzio, seized control of the city of Fiume, which had been handed over to Yugoslavia after the war. Many of the city's population were Italian speakers, and D'Annunzio demanded that the Italian government formally take control of it.

• The Italian government blockaded the city and called on D'Annunzio's force of 2,000 men to surrender. D'Annunzio's forces surrendered in December 1920. The Fiume incident demonstrated the widespread anger among the Italian population and highlighted the weakness of the Italian government.

The Italian Economy

• Italy had relied heavily on foreign loans to pay for its involvement in the war, leaving it with a debt of 85 billion lire.
• In the years following the war, international trade dropped, and Italy also experienced a period of agricultural and industrial decline.
• Wages remained low and many demobilized soldiers struggled to find employment.
• Inflation, which had almost tripled during WWI, wiped out much of the value of middle-class savings. By the end of 1919, 2 million people were unemployed.

Fear of Communism

• In the 1919 general election, the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) won 36% of the vote and 156 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. This was an increase of 104 seats since the previous election. The PSI leadership had been divided over whether or not to support the war. In the post-war period, these divisions continued.
• In 1921, the hard left of the PSI split to form the Italian Communist Party (PCI). In 1921, the PCI won just 15 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. While support for the PCI remained small and largely confined to the urban working class, its existence, combined with strong support for the Socialist Party, alarmed industrialists, small business owners, and landowners.
• They feared that the PCI would seize control, as Lenin had done in Russia, and nationalize private industry and businesses.
• Right-wing nationalist groups were formed to combat the perceived threat from socialists and communists. These groups also strongly opposed the government and King Victor Emmanuel III, blaming them for Italy's poor economy and failure to secure better terms in the post-war treaties.

The Emergence of the Italian Fascist Party

In 1918, a former soldier, Benito Mussolini, had called for the need of a political leader who would be 'ruthless and energetic enough to make a clean sweep to revive the Italian nation'. Mussolini was a former member of the Socialist Party and had served as editor of the Socialist newspaper Avanti! However, in November 1914 he was expelled from the party after he argued that Italy should join in the war. After the war, he became involved with right-wing groups and fully supported D'Annunzio's seizure of Fiume.

In 1919, Mussolini united several of these right-wing political groups, which were mostly made up of ex-servicemen, business owners, and farmers, to form the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian League of Combatants). This was the first fascist group to emerge after the war. Despite Mussolini's renunciation of the Socialist Party, many of his policies were based on socialist principles:

• The abolition of the monarchy
• The seizure of Church lands
• The policy that workers should have an equal share in the profits of the industries in which they worked

The Fascist Party and the Squadristi

• Mussolini also established the squadristi, a paramilitary wing of the fascist movement. The squadristi was mostly made up of ex-servicemen. They wore a black uniform and became known as the blackshirts. They intimidated political rivals, particularly the socialists and communists, as well as striking workers and agricultural labourers who had seized land.
• When the fascists failed to secure any seats in the 1919 election, Mussolini established the National Fascist Party (PNF). The party's policies focused heavily on Italian nationalism and called for Italia Irredenta. Mussolini called for spazio vitale (vital space) to expand Italian territory with the greater aim of recreating the glories of the ancient Roman Empire. He also played down his anti-clerical and anti-monarchist views, which had been unpopular with the Italian people.
• Support for the Fascist Party grew following the collapse of the Italian government in 1921. No one political party had secured an overall majority in parliament, which meant that a succession of short-lived coalitions had governed Italy since the end of the war. Mussolini and his supporters denounced the apparent weaknesses of the democratic system, claiming that it was failing to restore Italy's economy and society. Mussolini proposed a 'Third Way', which opposed both communism and capitalism.
• Mussolini's views, coupled with the actions of the blackshirts, secured the Fascist Party the support of nationalists, industrialists, landowners, and many demobilised soldiers. In 1921, the Socialist Party won 123 seats, while Mussolini and his Fascist Party secured 35 seats. Despite this poor result for the Fascists, by 1921, conditions emerged in Italy that would allow Mussolini to become dictator.
• 'By 1921, the breakdown of government in Italy was almost complete. Many areas passed under Bolshevik control, with the proclamation of local soviets. The King was ineffectual and the parliamentary system, weakened by multi-party divisions, lost the confidence of the public. Italian liberal democracy had patently ceased to work. Out of this confusion, Mussolini emerged as the strong man.' (Europe in a Changing World by M.J. Barber)
• Following the 1921 election, the Socialist Party formed a coalition government, but it collapsed in 1922. Luigi Facta, a member of the Italian Liberal Party, was then appointed Prime Minister of yet another coalition government. At the same time, Fascist violence against the socialists escalated throughout the country.
• In August 1922, the Socialist Party called for a general strike. Mussolini used the strike as an opportunity to attack his socialist rivals. The blackshirts, which numbered 200,000 men, expelled Socialist Party members from local councils across Italy and broke up the general strike. Many Italians came to believe that Mussolini was the only political person capable of restoring the law and order to Italy. Support for the Fascists grew, and they began to take control of several local councils.

Key Terms in Detail

Treaty of London

• An agreement made in 1915 between Italy and the Allied powers during World War I, promising Italy territorial gains from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in exchange for joining the war on the side of the Allies.

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye

• A peace treaty signed in 1919 that officially ended World War I for Austria and redistributed its territories. Italy gained South Tyrol, Istria, and Trieste, but not all territories promised in the Treaty of London.

Italia Irredenta

• Literally, "unredeemed Italy" is a nationalist term referring to territories inhabited by Italians but not part of Italy, which nationalists believed should be annexed to complete the unification of Italy.

Gabriele D'Annunzio

• An Italian poet, playwright, and ultra-nationalist who led the occupation of Fiume in 1919, symbolising defiance against the Italian government's perceived weakness and betrayal at the Paris Peace Conference.

Fiume

• A city on the Adriatic coast (now Rijeka, Croatia) that was seized by Gabriele D'Annunzio and his followers in 1919, challenging the post-World War I territorial settlements.

Inflation

• An economic condition where prices rise, and the purchasing power of money falls. After WWI, Italy experienced significant inflation, eroding the value of savings and contributing to economic instability.

Italian Socialist Party (PSI)

• A political party in Italy that gained significant support after WWI, advocating for socialist policies and reforms. Its internal divisions and the emergence of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) weakened its influence.

Italian Communist Party (PCI)

• Formed in 1921 by the hard left of the PSI, it aimed to establish a communist government in Italy similar to the Bolsheviks in Russia. It had limited support compared to the PSI but heightened fears among conservatives.

King Victor Emmanuel III

• The King of Italy from 1900 to 1946, whose perceived ineffectiveness and failure to secure better terms in the post-war treaties, contributed to the rise of fascist and nationalist movements.

Benito Mussolini

• An Italian political leader who founded the National Fascist Party and led Italy as its dictator from 1922 to 1943. Originally a socialist, he became a leading figure in establishing Italian fascism.

Fasci Italiani di Combattimento

• The precursor to the National Fascist Party, founded by Benito Mussolini in 1919. It was composed of ex-servicemen and nationalists advocating for strong nationalist policies and anti-socialist measures.

Squadristi

• A paramilitary wing of the Fascist movement in Italy, also known as Blackshirts, who used violence and intimidation to suppress political opponents and support Mussolini's rise to power.

National Fascist Party (PNF)

• Founded by Benito Mussolini in 1921, it was the ruling political party in Italy from 1922 to 1943. The PNF promoted fascist ideology, Italian nationalism, and the expansion of Italian territory.

Spazio Vitale

• This means "vital space," which was a concept in fascist ideology advocating for the expansion of Italian territory to restore the grandeur of the Roman Empire and ensure Italy's dominance in the Mediterranean region.

Third Way

• Mussolini's political ideology opposed both communism and capitalism, promoting a unique form of governance that combined elements of both while emphasising nationalist and fascist principles.